Tube station

“ Every bright morning I say I will go by bus, but when I reach the Tube station the draught sucks me in through the door, the man grabs me by the collar, throws me into the sink, lifts up the plug and down we go into the drain-pipe together. ”

“ All carriers must be returned to the station from63 which they were sent, or others to replace them, otherwise there will be an accumulation of carriers at some of the stations. It is like a railway: there must be as many trains despatched in one direction as the other, each day. Station O can receive a carrier from the central station and return it directly, but when station N receives one it must be returned via M, P, Q, O, and R, a much longer route than that by which it was received. ”

“ But the disadvantage is greatly overshadowed by the advantage of being able to connect several stations by one line, instead of having to run independent lines from each station to the central, especially when the business of the individual stations is not sufficient to occupy a separate tube all the time. It makes it possible to have stations where otherwise the business would not warrant the cost of installation and expense of operation. ”

“ A sound interrupted him; a frail quivering sound, a voice bubbling up without direction, vigour, beginning or end, running weakly and shrilly and with an absence of all human meaning into
ee um fah um so
foo swee too eem oo—
the voice of no age or sex, the voice of an ancient spring spouting from the earth; which issued, just opposite Regent's Park Tube station from a tall quivering shape, like a funnel, like a rusty pump, like a wind-beaten tree for ever barren of leaves which lets the wind run up and down its branches singing
ee um fah um so
foo swee too eem oo
and rocks and creaks and moans in the eternal breeze. ”

“ The cars, running singly, and at frequent intervals, are single-decked. It claims for its principle that the station platforms are readily accessible, so{188} that instead of having to descend a great number of steps, or to enter a lift to reach the cars, passengers arrive there by means of a short well-lighted stairway; that the ventilation of the tunnels is perfect, and the speed of the cars equal to that of the trains, and as they run singly and close together, long waits are avoided, and thus they are specially suited for short-distance travelling. ”

“ At the opposite end another trolley is stationed, and each movable vehicle carries an upright mast or trestle for the support of the strong cable which passes along the row over the tops of the trees and is stretched taut by suitable contrivances. Attached to this cable is a flexible tube containing a number of apertures and connected at the generating station with the small furnace or fumigating box from which the poisonous gases emanate. ”

“ The Pneumatic Dispatch.—The following description of the London "Pneumatic Dispatch," for the conveyance of small parcels of goods from place to place, we take from the Times: "The pneumatic tube extends from the London and Northwestern Railway Station at Euston Square, to the General Post-Office in St. Martin's-le-Grand. The central station is in Holborn, where is also the machinery for effecting the transit of the trains. Here the tube is divided, so that in effect there are two tubes opening into the station, one from Euston to Holborn, and the other from the Post-Office. ”

“ He pointed to the opposite side of the road, and, stopping the traffic, conveyed her across, and she found herself in the Mansion House Station of the District Railway.{103}
There were no officials to be seen, only the booking-clerks, one of whom, with the professional instinct for turning an honest penny for his employers, instead of advising her to return to the Bank close by, up Victoria Street, promptly recommended her to book by the District Railway to Bishopsgate Street, get across Finsbury Circus to Moorgate Street, and then take the City and South London Tube Railway to the “Angel.” ”

“ At convenient points inclines lead to the surface from the subway, and are linked to street trams and elevated railroads. Electricity is exclusively used for traction and lighting, and the cost of the entire scheme was originally estimated at £7,000,000.
Now, what is the conclusion to be come to as to the adaptability of the shallow underground system to our vast metropolis, whose station at Liverpool Street is the busiest in the world, with its “turnover” of forty-five millions of passengers per annum ”

“ Riding in an air-tight chamber would not be pleasant if much time were to be occupied in that way, but the cars are propelled so swiftly that the time from one station to another is hardly appreciable. At every stop the cars are opened and apparatus set in motion which changes the air completely almost in a moment. Where the tubes run under water shafts for air are put in at the stations. There is always a double line, one tube for each direction. No chance is left for accidents. ”

“ The atmosphere of Ploid is relatively lighter than ours, which has made aerial travel more difficult to perfect than it would be in our world.
The main traffic, both passenger and freight, is carried on by the Tube Line, a wonderful system perfected through thousands of years of painstaking labor.
Two immense tubes, lying side by side, each ten feet in diameter, made of a substance more durable than steel, form the road bed of this lightning system of travel. The cigar-shaped cars have hard rubber-wheels and fit over raised bars all around on the inside of the immense Tube. ”

“ The question of classes, fares, and tickets has not yet been settled, but we may assume that the system adopted will be somewhat like that of the Tube. The entire project closely resembles the Metropolitan Underground Railway of Paris, and the Boston Subway. Lifts are not at present contemplated, and probably their absence will be no great loss to active travellers, nor even to the “old, subdued, and slow,” for trains will so quickly succeed one another that the missing of one will involve no serious delay. ”

“ A short circular train ride is provided, just to furnish the necessary illusion, and the passenger, having really walked to his destination, steps out of the train well satisfied, and goes up the right elevator under the impression that he has been carried there. That is our Tube system as far as modern research has been able to fathom it. Of course, an Englishman could never have thought out such a good practical joke as these Tubes. The entire system was projected and constructed by an American. ”

“ The subway is illuminated electrically, but a considerable amount of natural light is also obtained, especially at the stations; and Captain Piper, deputy of the New York Police, when on a visit to London last February, discussing the question of ventilation in tube railways, gave it as his opinion that the freshest air he had “struck” in an underground railway was at Boston. “The air,” he said, “is excellent.”
The subway is, of course, perfectly clean, smokeless, and comparatively quiet; neither in the streets can any noise be heard from the cars that are continually passing close beneath. ”

“ Descending a few steps, and emerging into a tunnelled incline, the perspiring pedestrian quickly found that here, if anywhere, was a refuge from the heat, the coolest place in London, and that it was well worth while, on the pretence of urgent business across the water, to pay twopence each way, merely to drink in the refreshing air wafted backwards and forwards along subway, platform, and tube. ”

“ On both ends then, a train is gently pushed in by an electric locomotive. A car at a time goes through the gate so that there is a cushion of air between each car. The same thing happens at Liverpool. Now, when the due train comes out of the suction tube, it goes on out the gate, but the air behind it travels right on around and comes in behind the train that is leaving."
"But how are you assured that it will not stall somewhere?"
"It won't be likely to with pressure pumps going behind it and suction pumps pulling from in front. We can always put extra power on if necessary. ”

“ It will be recalled by those who have not allowed their view of modern history to become too hazy, that the close of the twentieth century saw a dream of the engineering world at last realized—the completion of the long-heralded undersea railroad. It will also be recalled that the engineers in charge of this stupendous undertaking were greatly encouraged by the signal success of the first tube under the English Channel, joining England and France by rail. ”

“ RAILWAY TUBES, HOW THEY ARE BORED
A revolution in tunnelling has been brought about in constructing Tube railways. By the new process a great cylinder or shield at the bottom of a shaft is pushed forward by hydraulic power into the soil ahead of it. The{78} navvies work inside, excavating the earth in front of them, and fit up iron segments at the rear of the tail end of the cylinder, or shield. Thus, on the one hand, the exact size and shape of the tunnel is ensured, and the workers are fully protected from the risk of the roof falling in. ”

“ So great was the rush during some part of those days that a two minutes’ service of cars had to be provided.
The extension from Twickenham to Hampton Court{159} was opened by Mr. C. T. Yerkes, the Chairman, and author of the happy alliance of train, tube, and tram, which may possibly enable many toilers in the East End to live in the country. At the least, it will give them the chance, when possessed of a little leisure and a few pence, to quickly exchange their sordid environment for one of the numerous sylvan spots which surround London, especially in the west. ”

“ All the tubes are worked on the block system, and by an electrical contrivance the traffic is regulated. In long-distance tubes delay would arise if it were only possible for one carrier to be in the tube at one time, and to meet this intermediate automatic signallers are inserted at various distances in the tube, so that as soon as a carrier passes one section, it automatically notifies the sending section, enabling a second carrier to be inserted. ”

“ If a train in the Central should break down and come to a stop in the tunnel, though it would not, of course, be run into—the block system making that all but impossible—it might be necessary for the passengers to get out. ”

“ Exits and entrances to the trains must be built in order that incoming and outgoing streams of persons shall not conflict. All these points require careful study. It is possible to design a baggage-room so bad as to make the station all but a failure; a stuffy ticket-office that is almost an impossibility to use under pressure conditions. The good engineer thinks two or three thousand times before he begins the design of a passenger terminal.
The concourse, or head platform, that joins all the different track platforms is the main feature of the terminal building. ”

“ Our trains have been averaging about fifty tons, and for that weight we have found that a pound pressure is quite sufficient. Now, taking the tunnel's length as four thousand miles (of course it is not that long, but round figures are most convenient) and the tube width eleven and one quarter feet each and working this out we have 3,020,000 cubic feet of free air per minute or 2,904,000 cubic feet of compressed air, which would use about 70,000 horse power on the air compressor. ”

“ The tubes are about thirty feet apart.
The tunnel as originally planned was to have been a single tube from Hoboken to Christopher street and Ninth avenue, New York, a distance of two miles. The present system when finished will comprise about twenty miles of single track or ten miles of double track tunnels.
All the latest devices in the construction and operation of the system are used. The trains are run on the third rail system and the cars are made entirely of steel and are absolutely fire-proof. ”

“ In London all the big termini will be linked together, and connected with the metropolitan Tube systems, whatever form the latter may ultimately assume. This may have the effect of increasing the crowding and bustling of our big stations, but, on the other hand, a vast number of wealthy people will use motor-cars from “house-to-house,” dispensing altogether with the railway.
Trains, more speedily and more economically run, will start more frequently. Goods traffic will be on entirely separate lines, and passenger trains will be able to follow one another in rapid and safe succession. ”

“ It is desirable, before proceeding further, to give a brief description of this system of traction, upon the merits of which distinguished engineers entertained widely different opinions.
Between the two rails of the line of way was laid a cast-iron tube, which on the Croydon and Dalkey railways and the completed or level portion of the South Devon Railway was fifteen inches in diameter. On the inclines it was proposed to use a twenty-two inch tube. ”

“ Where power is derived from water delivered under great head from pipe nozzles to impulse-wheels, stations are usually well above the water levels of streams into which they discharge, and passages for tail-water underneath the station shrink to small tunnels through their foundations. Seven of these tunnels have a total width of less than 25 feet at the Santa Ana River station, which is 127 feet long, and where the head of water is 728 feet. ”

“ The outcome of the Board of Trade inquiry last year into the vexed question of tube vibration was interesting. It showed that alleged annoyance from vibration has not been altogether imaginary, and some novel facts were produced. Fourteen meetings were held, and evidence was given by some of the residents along the line of the Central Railway route, their habitat ranging from Bucklersbury in the City to Kensington Palace Gardens in the west. A large number of the witnesses represented householders having “frontages,” and among others, the Holborn Borough Council. ”